Oakwood -- A typical doo-wop song features a booming bass singer, and few boomed like Marshall Sewell. He was a Cleveland police sergeant and an original member of the Edsels, best known for the number "Rama Lama Ding Dong."

The Oakwood man died Wednesday, June 5, at the Hospice of the Western Reserve after a year's struggle with esophageal cancer. He was 75.

"He was pure class," said the group's promoter, Henry Farag of Canterbury Productions in Indiana. "He was tall, thin, quiet, urbane, intelligent, knowledgeable about a lot of things, a center of calm. But his bass sounded like a freight train."

Douglas Bowden Sr. of Liberty Bell Records in Cleveland said, "He was a gracious, modest, low-key, hard-working individual with a wealth of knowledge in music."

Don't confuse Sewell's Edsels with a Cleveland band called Eddie and the Edsels. The Edsels behind Rama Lama come from Campbell, O., outside Youngstown.

Sewell was born in Montgomery, Ala., and moved to Campbell about age 5. He grew to 6-foot-3 1/2 and captained the basketball team at Memorial High School.

In 1957, the teenager and a few local friends formed a band and named it for Ford's unpopular cars. Determined to outwork the competition, Sewell hosted daily rehearsals at his house starting at 9 a.m. and lasting four or five hours.

He later recalled for Cleveland Magazine that he'd balked at first at bandmate George "Wydell" Jones' "Rama Lama Ding Dong." Sewell told Jones, "Are you kidding? I can't even say that, let along sing it!"

The Edsels recorded "Rama Lama Ding Dong" at Snyder Studios in Cleveland, and the new Dub label in Arkansas issued it in 1958 under the mistaken title, "Lama Rama Ding Dong," which didn't match the lyrics. The song got little air time at first.

Then the Edsels' 1960 ballad "Do You Love Me" caught on. Soon the group played Dick Clark's American Bandstand, New York's Apollo and other top venues.

The next year, a New York disc jockey eager for a novelty song remembered "Rama Lama Ding Dong" and made it a hit. Fans across the country began to croon, 'Oh, oh, oh, oh, I got a girl named Rama-Lama-Lama-Lama-Ding-Dong...."

The Edsels lasted a couple more years but scored no more hits. So Sewell found other work at Youngstown Sheet and Tube and in Kent State University security.

In 1969, while a residency rule was suspended, he joined the Cleveland police and moved to Oakwood. He patrolled the Fourth and Fifth Districts for many years. He became a recruiter at headquarters before retiring in 2001. He belonged to the Black Shield Police Association and also worked for the Cuyahoga Community College police.

In his free time, Sewell liked to pilot a motorboat and catch perch, walleye and more. He never tried to pursue music on his own. "It was all about the group," said his widow, Barbara Evans.

The Edsels reunited on and off for shows from London to Vancouver. They worked the Chicago Theatre, Atlanta's Fox, Virginia's Wolf Trap, Los Angeles' Kodak, Cleveland's Moondog Coronation Ball and elsewhere. Sewell's only child, David, joined up as a guitarist.

Songwriter Jones died in 2008. Only one original Edsel still performs with the group: the Rev. James Reynolds. But the show will go on with him, David Sewell and others. The Edsels are booked for the Brecksville Home Days on June 29.

Marshall Sewell

1937-2013

Survivors: Wife, Barbara Evans; son, David of Maple Heights; and three grandchildren.

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